Month: November 2015

This Black Friday I decided to #OptOutside and tag along with a group of 12 cachers from the Rochester area on the annual caching trip. This year the location was Zoar Valley Multiple Use Area in Erie and Cattaraugus Counties.

The initial goal for our group was a 4 stage multi “PurpleHawks finds 10,000 – Zoar Valley Multi” (GC48PZT). We parked very near the first waypoint and were able to figure out the trick fairly quickly. We proceeded through the hills and slopes of the park finding the next two waypoints. We found 3 other caches along the way. The view of the valley was breath taking.

We finally made it back to the final of the epic multi and it had coordinates for a bonus cache in it. Overall a great time at Zoar Valley.

After that our group split up and JAKSolantern, SpadeNya and I headed off in search of caches for the New York Amish Geotrail.

There are two parts of the geotrail. For each cache there is a keyword listed that you write down and send in. For each one you find, you get a Amish Geo Trail button. If you find 10 of the caches for either geotrail you get a trackable geocoin.

All the caches were ammo cans and were hidden at local shops or historic places. We ended up finding 20 out of the current 23 caches in about 6 hours. Check out the NY Amish Geo Trail here

I needed to find a cache today to fill it on my finds calendar. McDoogins, Rogue and I stopped for this cache today before heading to our Thanksgiving day family activities. I recorded my first Periscope. Which wasn’t very long and I struggled a little figuring it out. I’m going on a caching trip tomorrow with a big group from Rochester to Zoar Valley. Maybe I’ll do another Periscope then?

I found a cool idea on Pinterest for some geocaching swag. You only need a few things and it’s pretty inexpensive too. You need some Mod Podge, some vase gems with one flat side and some printed images of whatever geocaching related items you want. I got 1″ diameter gems and printed pictures of Signal, the geocaching symbol and some other small items. Just cut out the shapes and put them on the flat side of the gems so that you can see the image through the gem. Brush on some Mod Podge with a paint brush or sponge and let them dry. Mine are all clear stones but you could do this with other colors too as long as you can see through them. Here’s how mine turned out

Yesterday was a bit chilly here, but my boyfriend and I didn’t have any plans so we decided to take our geopup Rogue and find some caches. We went north to Blue Cut Nature Center. We found all 3 of the caches here. The last one took us about 45 minutes to find, although I’m really not sure why. Turns out I was looking on the complete wrong side of the trail the whole time. All 3 caches were great and the Nature Center was really beautiful. There were dozens of really tall pine trees that were amazing.

McDoogins and Rogue in the pine tunnel

We also found a really fun gadget cache called The fox Sisters. It tells the story f two sisters who started hearing rapping noises from their bedroom. They soon were able to communicate with whoever this spirit was by snapping their fingers and they would receive a series of knocks in response. They found out it was a man who was murdered in the house and was buried behind a false wall in the basement. This cache brings you to a park that had been made at the location of their childhood home. The cache container has a lock and you have to “communicate with the spirits” in order to figure out the word that will open the lock. The story and theme were great and it clearly took a lot of work for the CO to put together. Check it out here GC5WJW2

Yesterday, I received my monthly Cache Crate from Cache Advance for the month of November. The Cache Crate is a monthly subscription service that delivers a box full of geocaching and outdoor goodies directly to your door. This months box included:

A magnifying glass with built in tweezers. Perfect for removing splinters or ticks.

A 2 pack of flexible utility ties. You could use them for hanging bison tubes in pine trees!

A make-your-own para cord bracelet kit with instructions. You could put it in a cache as swag or keep it for yourself.

A smiley luggage tag. Keep track of your luggage at the airport with this stylish tag.

You can also choose to add on a trackable to your crate. There’s multiple options available. It’s “just like finding an awesome regular sized cache filled with amazing swag.” You can check it out here.

Today was a simple but exciting day. McDoogins, Rogue and I set off to hide my first size large cache and my first letterbox hide. It is a 5 gallon bucket that I painted camouflage myself. I also hand carved the stamp myself.

We also found a cache that hadn’t even found since April, which is exciting. A slow but exciting geocaching day.

Today, Geocaching HQ announced that there will be an opportunity to earn two new souvenirs during the New Years holiday. You can earn the Goodbye 2015 souvenir by finding a geocache or attending an event on December 31, 2015 and earn the Hello 2016 souvenir by finding a geocache or attending an event on January 1, 2016. Find out the full details here.

I personally really like souvenirs. The designs are usually really well done and interesting. They’re basically electronic stickers for your profile and who doesn’t like stickers? Not to mention that there are challenge caches for earning a certain number of souvenirs.

Thinking of hosting a New Years event? Check out some suggestions here.